


Meaner Than My Demons

by NoOneKnowsIWrite



Series: One-Shot Missed [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Coping, Demons, Gen, How Do I Tag, Illness, Mental Health Issues, Monsters, prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-03
Updated: 2017-05-03
Packaged: 2018-10-27 06:41:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10803861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoOneKnowsIWrite/pseuds/NoOneKnowsIWrite
Summary: Everyone has their own personal demon. One who torments you even on your worst days; they're the ones who make you trip on flat surface, hit your head on a door, even something as small as make you forget something vital. And they don't care.Except, just once. One girl's demon notices her slowly dissolving right in front of them. Their job is to torment and annoy, but something within the girl is already doing that for them.BASED ON THE IMAGE  BY Ana Ciorcila/(http://dodtt.tumblr.com)





	Meaner Than My Demons

**Author's Note:**

> This is based off the comic work of Ana Ciorcila. I found a post on Facebook (of all places) showing it and had to write about it. You'll see me mention it in the comment section. Link to that is: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialHorrorCityCentral/posts/1402859783135329  
> Title comes from Control by Halsey since it seemed fitting.

_I can't sleep_. _God,I just want to sleep._

She lays there. It's been hour- it has to have been- since she laid down to sleep. It's too warm in her room even with the fan on. Her blankets are long abandoned on the floor with her hopes of actually sleeping. It's been days since she last got a decent nights sleep. It's Wednesday and the last time she slept through the night was Saturday. Maybe. She can't clearly remember what day it was. Since then, it's been a back and forth, in and out of consciousness whenever she can manage a minute. It's to the point she would cry if she felt like it.

But she's past the point of caring.

Nothing- nothing!- is going right for her right now. Not her family life, friends, school, work. Nothing. Everything had been going so well. She'd made new friends and was getting along with family. But nothing seemed to last with her. Everything seems to be collapsing as she tried to gain some sense of her life. It's like she's a little kid again. Like when she would get hurt for no reasons, when she would wake up with bruises on her legs from nothing but sleep. Or when she'd trip going _up_ the stairs when she was being more than careful. Like the floor was being pulled right from under her.

She stared at the collection of bottles on her nightstand. _One_ to take the edge off her nerves and shaking hands. _One_ to fight back the dark thoughts that plague her. _One_ to make sure the two work. _One_ that's suppose to knock her out until her body decides to join the living again. _One_ to make sure she's sane enough to not take too many. One too many, she thinks as she reaches out and knocks one onto it's side. She's taken more than she probably should. Maybe that's why she can't sleep. If it were the problem, then she should just stop taking them. Right? But if she did stop taking them, she'd be more of a mess than she already is. Who knows how that would turn out. 

_I know exactly how_ , she thinks.

She just wants to sleep but it evades her. Even a few hours would be more than enough for her. Anything to make her thoughts stop, to make everything stop. Just for a moment and she'll be fine. She'll be able to pretend to be anyways. Just a few hours- even one- would be fine. But it doesn't happen. As each hour clicks by on her clock, she's still awake. She sat up and looked around the room; there's no one there of course. Not that there ever would be. She looks back to the pill bottles. Something boils in her and she reaches for the one she knocked over; the sleep aid. She read over the small print: the instructions, the doctor who prescribed them, her own name. Seeing her name makes something snap. 

She throws the bottle.

It hits the wall with a _thud_! and each tiny pill spills out. They scatter, sounding like rain, as she watches. It didn't do anything. She knew it wouldn't. She could easily blame the doctors. They've doped her up on so many pills it's probably what's keeping her up. Or they're all wrong and only making her problem worse. She could blame her family. They aren't there like they said they'd be. They should be listening to her when she says she's not okay and needs help; them not listening is only making things worse. She could even blame her friends and classmates and teachers. How could none of them see _something_ was wrong with her? Not one of them bothered to ask her. 

But she couldn't blame them.

This was all on her. She was the one who was messed up. She was the one who didn't say how bad things were, only smiled and pretended to be okay. She was the one who managed on an hour of sleep daily and covered up with makeup. It's no ones fault but her own no matter how badly she didn't want to take the blame. It infuriated and numbed her. She laid back against the bed and threw her pillow exactly where the pills had landed. Her eyes stung with tears she refused to let out as she clutched at the sheets. 

**___________**

_Something is not right_.

They looked up from their dark corner. Something isn't right indeed. And it isn't because of them. Not acceptable. They'd been dormant for too long and something had happened without them noticing. Definitely not acceptable. They lifted their head and took a deep breath as they noticed the source of unease. Oh. That's right. They rolled their eyes and stood up, stretching to their towering height. They rested their beady eyes onto the quivering figure that lay on the mattress before them. It'd been so long since they were about; they'd almost forgotten they were responsible for tormenting this human. Being dormant had been nice. Well, as nice as eternal sleep for a demon could be. 

They watched in disgust at the human in front of them. What had become of her? The girl they'd known was a spitfire of a human who they would have to call all the stops to bother. She hadn't been a sensitive kid. That was why they had been attracted to her and spent years trying to torment her. Minor things like tripping and bruises hadn't done anything to phase her then. Now, it seemed like the briefest of touches would send her into a fit. 

They stalked quietly towards the bed and loomed over the girl. Their head creaked as the cocked it. What had happened to this girl? It almost angered them to think someone else had taken their human and hurt them. That was their job. Anyone else doing it would _not_ be tolerated. Sadness and fear radiated off the girl as they peered closer. _Pathetic_. They watched as the girl curled into herself and sobbed quietly. They were annoyed. The child they'd spent years bothering only to give up and become dormant because of, was reduced to nothing now. They almost pitied her. Almost. _What have you become?_

They reached out with a clawed hand to touch the girl. Their fingers lightly brushed her temple as they tried to figure out what had ruined this girl. Demons, like many other creatures out there, could look into their human when need be. It was commonly used to find the child's fears and use them against them. It's why children would see people in shadows and wake their parents out of fear. Or why their were so many scary stories to tell. The connection could only be used by touch. They hadn't used it before, not since the girl was nothing more than a kid who couldn't be scared. But she wasn't that anymore. Instead, they were shown everything that made her this way.

They could see everything through her minds eye. How her life had been near perfect up until a year or two ago. They saw her family, faces they remembered from the girl's childhood. They saw her friends, faces they hadn't ever seen before. Everyone she had ever met came into their mind. This was all miscellaneous to them. The girl's life had been normal, what was wrong with her? The girl seemed unfazed as they delved deeper into her consciousness. In fact, she looked like she'd fallen asleep. _Odd._ They merely shook their horned head and continued on. They had expected to see partners in the girl's life, friendly or romantic they didn't care. Instead, they saw many nights where the girl was alone. Their human had been a quiet one as a child but never alone. Someone was always with her whether it be family, a friend, or even themself. How could she ever be alone?

They pushed further into her mind trying to find out why. What they hadn't expected ended up smacking them in the face like a literal wall. Emotions they had never felt before, not that they could feel many, flooded their own mind. They briefly considered stopping the interaction but curiosity won over. They needed to find out more. A wall of emotions seemed to block the girl's mind. It was dark, that was for sure. Solid, dark, and impenetrable as far as they could tell. But, they still pushed. Soon, they could see and feel years of smothered emotions. Years of being strong were only a mask for hiding her own emotions to make others feel better. 

They didn't know what to say or do. They watched as fragments of the girl's life flickered in front of their eyes. The girl and her siblings fighting. Her parents divorcing when she wasn't even a teen yet. Her first love and betrayal. Hurting herself to keep quiet, refusing to eat to make herself as empty as she felt. Not being like others, not being good enough. Horrible thoughts about herself constantly berating her. Feeling like her own mind was against her as she tried to make it through life. They were in near shock as they pulled their hand away. _Humans can be so cruel, even to themselves_. 

They took a step back as they continued to stare at the girl. Their job had been to torment the girl. Just like every demon out there. They were suppose to do so until it seemed like she was okay and would be tough enough for the world around her. Their human had appeared that way very young and they took it as a sign to go dormant. They had been wrong, very wrong. The girl hadn't been ready and had needed much more preparation. But they hadn't been there. They could still feel the lingering blame the girl had put onto herself. They had felt the dread she had when she woke up to another day, or when she would still be awake after another sleepless night. Tormenting was their job. It's what they were created to do. But. 

They couldn't do it.

They really couldn't. It felt like going against nature but they couldn't bring themselves to make it worse for the girl. She'd done enough damage to herself to last more than a lifetime of torment and annoyance. Instead, they felt the blame had been misplaced. The girl shouldn't be blaming herself. She should be blaming them. They hadn't prepared her for the world. Not with innocent pranks or nightmares meant to make her learn. They'd left her because she'd been too convincing to the world she was okay. Even to them. How she had managed to do so, they didn't know. But they weren't going to let her do it any longer.

They did one thing they knew they could do. Demons weren't suppose to interfere with humans. Not after their became adults anyway. Just prepare them and let them have their free will. They couldn't stand for that right now, consequences be damned. They once again reached out and places a single claw against the girl's temple. She fidgeted in her sleep at the slight touch. They watched carefully before continuing. Again, they pushed deep into her mind before finding what they were looking for; without hesitation, they cleared her subconscious. Though cleared, nothing was taken. Demons had a nasty habit or taking memories from their humans. 

They, instead, left everything as it was. Except, the took a small thought that had been rooted deep in the girl's mind. Self doubt and blame. It hadn't been the girl's fault she ended up like this. There wasn't a point to let the girl continue tormenting herself like this. The small thought slipped from her mind easily and the girl sighed in her sleep; her face softened and her body seemed to physically relax. They pushed the thought deep into their own mind. _Maybe, one day, they would use it against her._ They looked around and found the blanket she'd tossed to the ground. _Being a demon meant they would have to continue doing what they were made to do_. They grabbed the blanket and gently pulled it over the girl. _They would be back to continue what they had neglected years ago, whether the girl wanted it or not._ They made sure the blanket was tucked around her before stepping back once more. They melted back into their dark corner of the room. 

_But for now they'd leave the girl alone. She had other monsters to deal with right now._

 

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this at midnight so it was probably not my best work. However, critique and comment!


End file.
